Trapped and cut off: Palestinian families under settler siege in the West Bank

Qusra, West Bank — Loui Ridi began building a home in his native town of Qusra, in the occupied West Bank, for his two daughters. The girls grew up in Ohio, but family trips made them fall in love with their father’s Palestinian roots. “Can we have a home where grandmother lives, where you were born and raised?” his daughters had asked him, Ridi told CNN.

That dream is now on hold as a group of Israeli settlers lay siege to the hilltop where Ridi’s and two other homes sit in a bid to kick out the Palestinian residents.The settlers pitched a tent, cut off water and electricity lines and blocked roads, preventing anyone from reaching the residents.Trapped inside are Ridi’s brother, Qusai, and Qusai’s son, with only enough food to last two or three more days. “They have their eyes set on the house and on this hilltop; they want to take it,” Qusai said. “We will not surrender and we will not leave, even if we have to drink salt and water in this house and if there’s not a single piece of bread left.” Ridi watched in horror from Ohio on security cameras and began contacting the Israeli authorities, which are responsible for security in this part of the West Bank. And then, to his disbelief, Israeli soldiers arrived, warmly greeted the settlers and then joined them in prayer.Israeli soldiers and border police arrived at the hilltop on Wednesday, dismantled the settlers’ tent and began trying to remove the settlers from the area. But that effort failed. Dozens of additional settlers arrived, moving boulders into the road and throwing rocks at the security forces, who were seen firing sound grenades and spraying settlers with pepper spray before withdrawing. We arrived at the scene hours later, driving up the hill to Ridi’s house before being stopped by two Israeli soldiers, flanked by a half-dozen Israeli settlers. “This is a closed military area,” one of the soldiers told us. “You’re interfering with military activity.”